[tor-talk] Network diversity [was: Should I warn against Tor?]

[Jens Lechtenboerger]

On Fr, Jul 19 2013, Juan Garofalo wrote: 

> Jens, 
> 
> 	By means of avoiding 'foreign' relays you are stopping 
> adversaries outside of germany, but at the same time you're 
> making it easier for the german government to track you? Am I 
> missing something? 

Note that in general I go for German entry guards, not for entire 
Tor paths in Germany.

I hope to find guards “close” to me with which the communication 
is not monitored.  Clearly, if the German government is tracking 
me everywhere in Germany then such guards do not exist, and my 
approach fails.  In that case, I cannot see technical solutions 
but only political ones.
(Note that anonymization of communication with German partners 
fails as both, my communication with the entry and the partner’s 
with the exit, are monitored within Germany.  Communication with 
outside partners can also not be anonymized as the Germans’ are 
sharing their data.)

If, as I hope, only major IXPs are monitored in Germany, then the 
entry guard selection should avoid monitored paths.  That is what 
I’m trying to do.  If the path to my entry is not monitored, my 
end of the torified traffic is not observed, thwarting correlation 
attacks.  

Best wishes Jens